A Presumption of Death

Author Jill Paton Walsh and Dorothy L. Sayers
Narrator Edward Petherbridge
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Run Time 9 hours and 16 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Classic crime and mystery fiction, Crime and mystery fiction, Crime and mystery: cosy mystery, Crime and mystery: women sleuths, Historical crime and mysteries.

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What to expect

'Miraculously right: catching precisely the tone of the relationship . . . thrilling' - The Times
'A must for all Wimsey lovers . . . an entertaining read' - Northern Echo

It's 1940, and while the Second World War rages on, Harriet Vane - now Lady Peter Wimsey - has taken her children to safety in the country.

But the war has followed them: glamorous RAF pilots and even more glamorous land-girls scandalise the villagers, and the blackout makes the night-time lanes as sinister as the back alleys of London.

Then the village's first air raid practice ends with a very real body on the ground - and it's not a war casualty, but a case of plain, old-fashioned murder. And it's not long before a second body is found . . .

Critics Review

She brought to the detective novel originality, intelligence, energy and wit.
P.D. James
Miraculously right: catching precisely the tone of the relationship . . . It comes out splendidly . . . a thrilling denouement
The Times
A must for all Wimsey lovers . . . an entertaining read which offers some longed for insight into the lives of the Wimseys after their marriage
Northern Echo
Jill Paton Walsh does a fine job . . . she also answers an unasked question about Lord Peter and Harriet: Yes, dear readers, they have a lot of sex and they like it.
Globe and Mail, Toronto
Vintage Wimsey . . . Wimsey lives on in delicious familiarity in this triumph not just of one writer’s art, but of two
Huddersfield Daily Examiner
Satisfying and impeccably researched
Mystery Woman
Jill Paton Walsh scores a winner
Houston Chronicle
I admire her novels . . . she has great fertility of invention, ingenuity and a wonderful eye for detail
Ruth Rendell
She combined literary prose with powerful suspense, and it takes a rare talent to achieve that. A truly great storyteller.
Minette Walters
Aficionados of Sayers will enjoy renewing acquaintance with her heroes . . . Walsh devised a literary period piece of considerable charm.
The Oxford Times
A good crime story, with a wonderful cast of characters, full of acutely observed small incidents, to be reread with pleasure after the first eager race through.
Sherlock

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